DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the investigator s abstract): The percentage (30-40%) of young children who stutter who also exhibit disordered phonology is far greater than the percentage (2-6%) of disordered phonology in the general population. Unfortunately, no completely satisfactory theory currently exists to account for the separate occurrence of either stuttering or disordered phonology, much less their common co-occurrence. It would appear, however, that their co-occurrence offers a unique window into the variables that may cause, exacerbate or maintain both disorders. One theory recently advanced for explaining stuttering is based on the model of normal fluent speech production developed by Levelt. This covert-repair hypothesis (CRH) suggests that the phonological encoding of children who stutter is impaired. This impairment is most problematic when these children make their phonological selections too rapidly. Due to these overly-rapid phonological selections, children who stutter are more apt to make selection errors, thus causing them to more frequently self-repair (self-correct), with resulting stutterings. The project seeks to assess differences between: (1) self-repairs in words with systematic (rule-governed) versus nonsystematic ("slips of the tongue") speech errors, (2) stutterings in words with versus without systematic speech errors, (3) syllable complexity in words with versus without non-systematic speech errors, (4) the ratio of self-repairs to nonsystematic speech errors in children who stutter versus children who do not stutter, and (5) nonsystematic speech errors and speech disfluencies associated with phonologically facilitated versus non-facilitated picture naming responses. Findings from these studies will have important theoretical implications for onset and development of stuttering, place stuttering within the broader context of normal and abnormal speech and language development, and inform diagnostic and treatment approaches for children who stutter.